New broom Craigen opens Innocean ‘hub’ in Berlin

Innocean, the agency that handles Hyundai and Kia globally, is opening a new office in Berlin to act as a hub for its existing outposts in Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Istanbul, Moscow, Paris and Milan. The move follows the appointment of Jeremy Craigen (left), formerly the lead creative on Volkswagen at DDB, as global CCO. Craigen has hired Rich Muntz, formerly at WPP’s Blue Hive agency which works on Ford, as European CCO.

Innocean seems to have ambitions above and beyond its in-house agency role. Craigen says: “For starters, Berlin is gunning for the title ‘start-up hub of Europe’, so what better city to open an office. And we’re approaching every aspect of the set up and operation of this new agency with the start-up spirit; new space, new people and new ways of taking our clients brands to market.”

Muntz says: “With every exchange I have with Jeremy and the euro and global teams, I’ve got to know what makes Innocean tick. They’re supper hungry to do great work, incredibly open to new methods of working and hell-bent on upping the creative product and growing business. I am, in equal measure, honoured and excited by the opportunities.”

We should expect some creative fireworks from Innocean. It’s also interesting that it’s chosen Berlin as its European hub, a move possibly influenced by the growing likelihood of a ‘Brexit’ win in the forthcoming UK EU referendum.